ZAGREB, June 6, 2020 - The leadership of the Istrian Democratic Party (IDS) on Friday decided to join the "Restart" opposition coalition led by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the upcoming parliamentary elections which Croatia will hold on 5 July.
The IDS leadership said that the decision was made after a series of negotiations with the SDP which accepted all the conditions set by this regional party.
One of the conditions was that any future territorial reorganization of Croatia would preserve the autonomous status of Istria as a county.
Also, the IDS insisted on having its four candidates on the Restart slate for the constituency No. 8.
In the last parliament, the IDS parliamentary club had four lawmakers: three of whom were IDS members plus independent deputy Furio Radin as the representative of the ethnic Italian minority.
The IDS leader Boris Miletic, who is the mayor of the City of Pula, said after the leadership's meeting that he was not among those four candidates, explaining that now when the county was dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences, his duty would be to "remain here in Istria."
